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Who watches ‘Watchmen’? You will, if you’re smart

That’s what I heard from my fellow comics nerds friends when news first broke of the HBO adaptation helmed by Damon Lindelof. To be fair, it is not a question anyone ever asks about Superman, Batman or Spider-Man, but it speaks to the rare place that this particular comic book holds for fans. A groundbreaking work when it came out in 1985, Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ series has long been considered one of the works you hand to somebody if they think comics are just for kids. The resulting collected trade paperback has ended up on lists of the 20th century’s most important books, and has been much lauded as a mature look at the trauma of costumed heroes and as a deconstruction of the medium.

Powerhouse comic creator Moore has been so disappointed by the creative liberties taken with film and television adaptations of this work that he had his name taken off the 2009 film adaptation of this particular work. Despite his wishes, that’s never stopped anybody, though Zack Snyder’s slavishly faithful film was savaged for being too wooden of an adaptation. After over 30 years, the characters were recently rebooted with new DC comics created by some of that industry’s top talents; the results just weren’t the same, and they certainly didn’t capture the zeitgeist in the way the original did. Which brings us to Lindelof’s new series, whose season starts on HBO on Sunday night.

The TV writer and producer is one of that industry’s most divisive figures, thanks to his history on “Lost” and “The Leftovers” as well as his involvement with films like “Prometheus” and “The Hunt,” whose Aug. 10 release date was shelved due to controversy over two school shootings that occurred around that time. Lindelof, also a huge fan of the source material, wrote an open letter to Moore about going against Moore’s wishes to revisit “Watchmen.” He’s referring to this series as a “remix,” which has riled up some superfans of the 1985 work, although it’s likely that none of them have actually seen what Lindelof has done.

Having seen the first six episodes of the nine-episode season, this definitely isn’t Moore’s “Watchmen.” It’s something different, something that carries some of the same spirit, explores some of the same themes, and is at times as excellent in its own medium.

Set in present day, with the original events of the comic established as its canonical past, this carries the warped alternate-history look at America down another dark path. Robert Redford is president (a prospect hinted at toward the end of the comic), the tentacles of the comic’s horrific closing act are still having an impact, and while vigilantism is outlawed, there are still some costumed heroes around. Much of the action centres around Tulsa, Okla., and one of the important moments that kick this off is a depiction of a real event — the 1921 race riot that occurred there. It’s that ugly moment that serves as the seed of inspiration for much of the tension here.

After an incident where a white supremacist group — the Seventh Kavalry, who wear Rorschach masks — kills much of the police force and their families, the police in Tulsa now wear yellow masks. As well, there are still some costumed civilians: Regina King stars as a former officer who is opening a bakery, but also patrols the city as Sister Night. Similar to the 1985 story, there is a murder that sets the plot in motion.

The first two episodes start with world building, and while there are references and callbacks to the original, much of it left me scratching my head, as it felt almost too far from the original series. That changed with the third episode, a stellar instalment of television that is about as good as anything HBO has ever done. It reintroduces some familiar characters and give us an update on others. Jean Smart’s turn as a grizzled, older Laurie Blake is excellent, as is the episode’s framing device of her telling jokes, long distance, to a certain blue man.

From there, Lindelof is off and running, trying to elevate superhero storytelling on television in an incredibly ambitious manner. That’s best shown in how the show delves into the history of race relations in America in a very serious manner, even with costumed characters around. There are several other smart touches, like the show within a show, “American Hero Story,” a fictionalized take on the history of the Minutemen, this world’s original group of caped crusaders from the 1940s. Episode six is another particular standout: While “Lost” redefined the use of the flashback in TV — a device this series also uses a lot — this mostly black-and-white creation uses it in a truly stellar and novel way.

Lindelof has said that this first season will tell a self-contained story, and that if there is interest, he’d be willing to do more. The intricacy of the world building certainly offers that potential, although the story through six episodes is almost overstuffed. The key will be to see if the final three (which were not offered for preview) can actually tie up all the loose ends and plot threads out there, something that “Lost” notoriously failed at. My guess is that it’s heading for some form of horrific shock ending reminiscent of the original series, and if that’s the case, it will be interesting to see how the audience reacts.

The latest revisiting of “Watchmen” comes at an interesting time for screen superheroics: Marvel has grand plans for its next phase of storytelling, but the most impressive thing they did with the Avengers and the MCU was do episodic storytelling in blockbuster-movie form. Television has long been more suited to telling serialized, comic-book-like stories, and there’s now a wave of shows adapting some slightly less-traditional comics. It has been led by two Toronto-shot series, “The Umbrella Academy,” which has put the focus on the dysfunctional-family aspect of people with superpowers, and “The Boys,” which is based on Garth Ennis’ satire about humans whose job it is to keep depraved superheroes in line. As with “Watchmen,” you probably couldn’t tell those stories if we hadn’t already lived through many nuts-and-bolts adaptations of more straightforward superhero tales.

I recently talked to local superstar comic-book creator Jeff Lemire, who has a ton of TV projects in development, including “Black Hammer,” his own universe where superhero dwell in limbo on a mysterious farm. I asked him if he was worried if it was too weird.

“I think I think people are ready for it. It’s like, there’s been so many superhero adaptations now at this point mainstream TV and film audiences have kind of caught up to where comic books and superheroes are now,” he said. “And they’re ready for like the postmodern take on genres.”

Lindelof, for his part, has reportedly said that “nostalgia is toxic” when discussing his version of “Watchmen.” Considering that was one of the themes tackled by the original comic series, that’s fitting. What this says about adaptations in the future will also be interesting to see, but taken and judged on its own, this is definitely superpowered television worth watching.

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